


To die but be alive

by Fogfire



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tony is a dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 11:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fogfire/pseuds/Fogfire
Summary: warning: AngstPrompt: “Wanna, like–I mean, if you’re not busy… We could get lunch? Or even just coffee if you don’t have a lot of time?”





	To die but be alive

Like with every other great love story, Tony did not see it coming.

He had his fair share of flings, had managed to somehow make Pepper love and leave him too. Now he stood almost alone, no one to call an ally and the ones to call friends he could count on one hand.

And just like that, he had met you, in the hallway of the clinic Rhodey took his therapy sessions in.

He had not noticed you right away, no, more like he had not noticed you in that way until you had first spoken to him.

“Wanna, like–I mean, if you’re not busy… We could get lunch? Or even just coffee if you don’t have a lot of time?”

Sure, it was not the first time someone dared to approach him first and it wasn’t the first time someone tripped over his own words while doing so, but with you it was different. Or at least he liked to think of it that way.

And he had been right, he remembered while racing down the highway.

“Careful,” Rhodey called out on the passenger seat while dialling the number of someone who could make them reach their destination faster.

Why had he even listened to you when you had asked him to leave the hero business to others? Sure, he was a going to be a father and that meant being responsible and being around more, but the suit would have shortened the distance from him to you faster than this car ever could.

He would be a father, he thought, still as surprised by it as he had been the day you had told him and he took his foot from the gas, slowing the car down just enough to be sure he was at least driving safe.

You had that effect on him. Make him rethink his choices with the way you looked at him, quirked an eyebrow, touched him, called his name. Something in you made him change.

And now you were going into labour one week early and he wasn’t by your side.

Memories flashed in front of his eyes when he had to stop in front of a red light.

You laughing on that first date.

Your face illuminated by a street light, just seconds before you had leaned in for a first kiss.

The way your lips formed his name and how you smiled at him when you woke up. Always the same, soft smile on your lips, no matter how late it was or how early when a nightmare hit.

image  
He remembered a white summer dress and flowers in your hair and the first time he had been able to hear his unborn child’s heartbeat when he raced down the hallways of a hospital.

Doors opened and a nurse stepped out, a bundle in her hands.

“Stark,” he panted out, “Tony. My wife is in there.”

“We have been called,” the nurse told him, “Mr. Stark. This is your daughter.”

She handed him the bundle, but the door opened behind her, someone calling her in and he could see you, lying on a bed, your body limp.

You did not smile, nor wave.

“Mr. Stark,” the nurse’s voice sounded muffled to his ears, “I’m sorry to inform you that there were complications-”

“What does that mean?” He asked, his heart ice cold, his body numb. “What does that mean?”

“Tony,” Rhodey’s hand on his shoulder, “Come on, lets sit down for a moment. Let’s look at that little girl in your arms.”

That was the first time he had really seen her. His little girl. Your little girl.

His nose, your mouth. Maybe she’d learn to smile like you.

Her hands, forming tiny fists. She would learn to fight the world with the same gentle strength he had seen in you.

Tony Stark wanted to die the day you died.

But for his daughter, he lived on.

He called her Hope.

Hope, one of the many things he had been allowed to learn from you.


End file.
